RECRUITMENT OF WORKERS IN LOCAL GOVT REJECTED
PROMOTE AND UPGRADE QUALIFIED STAFF FIRST
OUR REF: ZUL/54/5/1 18th August, 2022
To: All Provincial and Branch Secretaries Zambia United Local Authorities Workers Union REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA
RE: UPDATE ON THE MEETING WITH THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICE COMMISSION Please refer to the subject above.
The two Unions (ZULAWU and FIRESUZ) held a meeting with the Local Government Service Commission on Wednesday, 17th August, 2022, to discuss the position or progress on the following issues;
a) Employees with requisite qualifications and experience in light of the pending planned recruitment of employees by the Commission.
b) Division IV employees with requisite qualifications suitable for commissioned positions.
c) Reunion of married couples separated by transfers.
d) The concerns raised by the Unions on some provisions in the New Terms and Conditions of Service. The Local Government Service Commission gave their position on the above matters as follows;
1. The Commission will proceed with the current recruitment process and serving members are encouraged to apply.
2. The current recruitment will fill in the vacancies with qualified personnel and not as per recommendations from Councils.
3. Division IV’s employees who possess the requisite qualifications should be encouraged to apply.
4. The Commission will work with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to consider the issues raised by the Unions over the new Terms and Conditions of Service.
5. The matter concerning the reunion of married couples will be extensively considered in due course in collaboration with various stakeholders. The Unions argued and communicated the following as their position;
1. The recruitment process commenced by the Commission is not supported by the Unions due to the following reasons;
a) The Local Authorities have qualified employees to fill in the advertised positions.
b) The Commission has not considered the recommendations for promotions for both Commissioned and Division IV employees submitted by Local Authorities for the last 8 months or more. This should be considered before the positions can be advertised.
c) Employees have used personal resources to advance academically and should be considered first before advertising externally.
2. The process of uniting married Couples should be expedited and the Union is willing to work with the employer by providing additional information to help in the decision making.
3. The Implementation Circular for the new Terms and Conditions of Service should be able to speak to the issues raised as concerns by the Unions.
Therefore, given the above, members will discern that the two parties have different positions on the matter concerning the ongoing recruitment process. However, an assurance is given that further engagements have been arranged to have the matters resolved as soon as possible to the mutual satisfaction of the parties.
Yours in Solidarity,
ZAMBIA UNITED LOCAL AUTHORITIES WORKERS UNION